You Had Me At Hello || z.m.

"I'm Your Friend"

It's Tuesday morning, and I'm walking on the street to reach Zayn's house. The last two days have been quite boring. On Sunday, Alice and I went out for lunch, 'cause she had to describe her date with Louis to me, detail by detail. It was pretty good, he took her out, paid dinner for her and kissed her on the lips after taking her back to her flat, the classic. She looked enthusiastic, and I thought that it was enough. She really deserves to be happy, and Louis seems to be a very good guy.

I talked a lot with Liam. He told me about his family, about his dreams. When he was little he wanted to become a fireman, but then choose to study music technology. He's always been into music, since he was a kid. He also loves athletics, and used to be a great runner when he was in high school. He also told me about his mom, his dad and his older sisters. It's weird: sometimes you know a person for years without being familiar with him while sometimes you meet someone and after a few words you feel deeply connected with him. That's what happened between me and Liam. I've reached an unbelievable intimacy with this guy.

I've been thinking about Zayn. A lot. I wish I could erase his face from my mind, but I'm not able to do that. The bad thing is that I work at his house three times a week. I may see him very often. And I may see Perrie too. I feel the need to stop and start running in the opposite direction but I carry on.

When I arrive at the front door, I take my bag and start looking for the keys mrs. Malik gave me, but I hear the door suddenly opening, and Zayn peeks out with a grin on his face. I turn to stone and forget how to breath for a while.

"Hi Irene!" he looks excited for some reason, and rapidly grabs my arm and brings me inside.

"You have to tell me what happened when we were at the club!" he says slowly, curiosity on his annoyingly perfect face.

I try to act normal "What do you mean?"

"C'mon Irene! You know what I mean!" he goes on mischievously. I'm truly confused at this point.

"I really don't know what you're talking about Zayn!"

He looks amazed. "Liam!" he spits out.

Oh my god, has Liam told him about my crush?! I don't know what to say and I stand motionless.

"Oh c'mon Irene, you and Liam went out alone..what's going on between you two?" he questions cheekily. If he only knew!

"Nothing, we just talked, as friends!"

"Oh don't lie to me! Liam is my best mate, I've got to look out for him. And after the sad story with Danielle... I would be very happy if he found a nice girl, like you."

Perfect. The guy I like makes every effort to set me with one of his friends.

"I know Zayn, he told me about her, but I honestly think we can be just good friends." I answer shrugging.

"Oh" he seems disappointed. "Ok. I believe you."

"Well, now I should get to work." I turn away from him and head to the living room.

"May I help you?" he asks.

It takes me some second to realize what he just said. "No! Your moms pays me for doing this!" I answer abruptly.

"Don't get mad, I'm just bored and I thought that if I help, you'll finish sooner and we can have some fun together" his big hazel eyes beg me to say yes.

Why is he doing this to me?

"Ok, ok...I guess, you can help" I give up, and he comes with me in the living room.



For the first hour we work almost in silence. He makes a joke now and then, and I make fun of how clumsy he is. At a certain point, I find a picture in a box. "To Zayn, love u <3" is written on the reverse side; I turn the picture and see Zayn kissing Perrie's cheek. I swallow hard and my heart starts racing.

"How did you meet Perrie?" I ask, distracting him from his work.

"You know... friends in common introduced me to her and we started...dating" he clears his throat and continues working.

"You are...cute."

He turns and sees me holding the picture.

"Thanks" he whispers. "Irene, are you ok?" he adds, seeing that I'm staring for way too long at their picture.

His voice interrupts my thoughts and I look at him with my wet eyes. "Y-yeah, don't worry". I try to hide the tears rolling down my cheeks, but Zayn notices them anyway. He comes close to me, putting his arm around my shoulder.

"Irene, I'm your friend, you can open up." his voice is sweet and his warm breath caresses my skin as he leans down to look me in the eyes.

"It's just that...sometimes I miss my old life. I'm happy to be here, but sometimes I see something that reminds me of who I used to be and... I can't avoid crying!" I sob pathetically.

"So...cry!" Zayn exclaims. "Let it out, it's ok to be sad sometimes. And I'm here to make you feel better"

I sigh, and start explaining. "I had a boyfriend, in Italy. We stayed together for about 5 years. And then...he left, because he found a job in Glasgow. We knew it would have been hard to keep the relationship work. But...clearly he was not as determined as me, and he easily found...somebody else." I wipe away the tears from my face, and looking up I meet Zayn's understanding gaze.

"Come with me" He takes my hand. "You need to pull yourself together"